Thanks for posting the pics! I wasn't at the show but may be able to answer the question about the icycle things. They might be the same ones (or some of the same ones) that were hanging in the lobby at one of the big quilt shows last yet. I think I recognize some of them, so they are probably on a traveling show now. I remember reading an article about it - they were commissioned for that show, and made by several different quilters. Will see if I can find the article I was reading .....
Here's a blog about it, but this wasn't the article I was reading. The one I read was more in-depth.
http://joiedvie.com/2011/01/road-to-...ia-quilt-show/
Still not the article I was reading, but if you go to page 2, top right - you'll see that the exhibit from the Road to California show is indeed a traveling show as it is at the Nebraska quilt show as well.
http://qscexpos.com/pdf/LINCOLN-program.pdf